Alaoouzha: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has taken note of the caste discrimination by Hindu Matha Convention at Chettikulangara temple.
TDB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan said he had sought a report from Devaswom Commissioner on the shifting out of a non-Brahmin priest. “The appointment of non-Brahmin priests will be by rules and regulations," he told DC.
The DC report “Temple stonewalls non-Brahmin priest” on July 16 had triggered public outrage against the RSS-backed group, and the SNDP Yogam, Hindu Aikya Vedi and CPI (M) held a sit-in at the temple on Saturday.
Congress party leaders, including lawmaker K.C. Venugopal, asked the TDB to uphold the Constitution and appoint him at the earliest. District Congress Committee president M. Liju said denying the job on the caste basis is a criminal violation of human rights.
On June 14, Sudhikumar, a priest of 12 years at various temples under TDB, got transferred to Chettikulangara, but the TDB buckling under the rightist pressure kept the order in abeyance.
The Convention had passed a resolution against non-Brahmin priests a day before he was to join there, July 1, and Mr Sudhikumar still waits for final decision. "I am told to continue at Puthiyidam temple till August 1," he said. "I hope I will be appointed at Chettikulangara temple as the assistant."
In a 2015 verdict, the Supreme Court had extended the freedom of religion to core practices, and that inclusion or exclusion as per the religious code should not be based on caste, birth or any other constitutionally unacceptable parameter.
But Convention secretary M. K. Rajeev reiterated its stand "to protect the temple rituals in accordance with the centuries old tradition and precedence."
